Montreal... watch out Oatie's about!

I have just lost my post for this, and I really quite liked it:(

I don't know if take 2 will be as good! lol!

We had a great trip to Montreal and the next day we went for our ABR training. We had a fantastic training as usual with Fehim and Marianna. They both are totally outstanding, they are so clear and explain things so nicely... I don't know if it's the same for the other ABR families but the 3 hours just fly by! There is a group synergy in the room, each person with their unique CP but we're all working towards the same goals and a lovely camaraderie!

Oatie on his Bench watching his cartoons.

It was the first time Oatie doubled up on his sessions, I will update the comparison photos but that will be a blog post for another day! As it is I think I'll have to break our trip into different posts so many photos

Oatie in McDonalds, we gave in to the kids lol! Oatie says that's where Frutopia comes from!

At our Favourite Indian in Montreal, well in Canada ! Moghel Tandoori the details in the restaurant section of my blog! As usual fantastic experience, wheelchair diners so welcome and brilliant service the owners nephew is special needs so he just loves Oatie when we come in. He was super chuffed we came back!

We also met up with Oatie's LOVELY preschool aide who was wonderful as always!

Fuel for what was our 9.5 hour journey from Montreal to Niagara Falls... I think it's meant to take 6... but we had a few pit stops along the way and Tim Hortons was one of them! Oatie usually gets 1-2 timbits... so he's never seen a donut before! He thought they were one HUGE timbit and was so excited!

We made it to Niagara, this is at a Chinese in Niagara Falls, it's called the Lotus Garden I think super handicapped friendly, great value and sweet service!

Tomorrow I'll post about Niagara Falls!

WOW what a Week! but a fantastic week, LOTS has happened in the past week.

Well Since last Tuesday, my Eldest passed another two figure skating tests that he's been working towards for a while. He didn't just pass them he really passed them. So that was great!

Then on Saturday, we went to one of the skating coaches wedding. It was on ice and it was BEAUTIFUL. All the kids performed from Jnr prep up to Senior a whole club number and then they did individual group numbers on the skating level. Jnrs, Int and Seniors. The kids did their coach proud.

Then the Groom who plays hockey at a high level came out with his ushers... and the and waited at the ice alter... The bride came gliding out escorted by her parents one on each side which did choke me as you could have imagined them holding her up once on skates and now she teaches skating for her living! She has a beautiful ivory ice skating wedding dress on.

Oatie, wanted hair like his big brother, so it got spiked and Oatie looked so cool.

My husband took photos from a different angle and I videoed from the side view, everyone was at the short side of the rink... but I felt that sometime an alternative view is nice as you see what everyone else doesn't see. Like I got all the kids going in and out and when they all came back on the ice for a group photo hugging their coach it was so lovely!

Oatie has some news! well lots of news.... about 10 days ago, he trialled a walker. It's a reverse one so he's not stooping, he actually keeps him in fairly good posture. We've borrowed it from the Neuro clinic so we could bring it to ABR HQ for their opinion of it.

We asked our fellow ABR families what they have done in a similar situation. Oatie, about to go to Kindergarten in the fall... and now he's started potty training and it's a school of 700 I've been told by the principle! just in elementary... So we're just going to let him use it for that mainly.

His physique has been improving but he started to become agoraphobic and less social been in a chair the whole time. So in a week his maturity has tripled... he's been asking what more things are and even walked out in rain, wind and snow... where as before he'd scream!

AND.....

Oatie is getting an ADAPTIVE BiKE! we went to the clinic just before we went to the Wedding and in 10 days time he will get his new bike. It's an able bodied persons bike, but adapted for him, it has bigger stable stabilisers and it has a spring loaded handlebars, which are circular so Oatie can hold on where it's comfy for him... they're moving the break to closer to Oatie. His bike has a backrest and a seatbelt and he has special peddles!

Again the bike, he chucks his outdoor phobia aside, he rode it outside the CP association on their pavement/sidewalk and LOVED it.

Oatie will be hopefully cycling in a Bike Rally for CP kids. So he's going to be collecting sponsors. It's a 1km bike ride and they have 3 hours to complete it! his siblings can join him...

AND!!! Oatie also went to his siblings school disco, he took his walker with him and bopped on the dance floor and did the YMCA and even tried the Michael Jackson Moonwalk.

AND we went to a tradeshow on Friday, to help raise money for a National Figure skater. Oatie visited the fire station booth where he became chief firefighter!

Oatie would normally HATE something like this, but because of the walker he was sociable and enjoyed it.

AND....

On Monday we flew out to Montreal for our next ABR session. This time we took the whole family. So today we had day one of our training which was brilliant as usual.

Tomorrow is our evaluation and a final session. I will post some photos of our ABR session in a separate post.

This was one of the first photos I ever posted, but now 2 years on... he couldn't sit on a plane like this 2 years ago. In fact he screamed on the plane from being in PAIN! of the plane seat.

8, 7 and 4 year old now!

Well, my baby girl turned 7 on Sunday. I can't believe she is 7 already!

The photo is of Oatie enjoying the bowling party. We'll as he can't bowl independently, on of my best friends 14 year old came as his bowling companion, she is a wonderful young lady, the type that you wish your teenage daughter to be one day to be....

She is so lovely with Oatie, he had a ball, (excuse the pun).

My eldest baked both her birthday cakes, well we were going to have 1 cake, but he insisted that she needed a chocolate and a vanilla cake... so that's what she got. his cake tasted good as people came back for seconds and thirds!

Apart from that I had a horrid fever with a cold which my daughter then Oatie got and then ME! So I'm just about over that thankfully!

Skating test day's this week... Then preparing to go to Montreal :)

Easter, Bunnies and Oatie!

Oatie Spiderman Cat - for the Easter Egg Hunt

Well the second competition went great!  My eldest had another PB skate, as did my daughter.  She still gets the raw deal, I guess, as she's skating against kids who are 2-3 years older than her.  So even though she does all the same moves, they are just not as big or as strong or as fast as theirs...  It doesn't seem to affect her, as I think she knows that the strength will come, but she already has the technique.  Not a problem, but for my daughter, she will then master the next thing that makes her skate up at the next level... and then... she'll be 2-3 years younger than them all over again!  We reckon that there will be a cross over of her age/size not being an issue.

Carnival dress rehearsal was good, my son wore his psychedelic pink shirt, the theme is from the 60's... he really didn't want to wear it, but about 20 dads in the stands all said he looked really 'cool' in it and I guess he did because HE CAN SKATE!  like if he was a beginner, I might have protested.. but because he skates like a Matador he can carry it off.  Oatie, WANTS the top, and has decided that it will be HIS skating top... now that Oatie wants my eldest doesn't want to part with it after Carnival... and I was like you DIDN'T want it... and explained how this year Oatie isn't in the carnival.... that it's really important to have something of your skating that he can wear.  So Next Saturday at precisely 16:45 mountain time... you will know that the pink shirt is being handed from brother to brother!!!  My daughter loves her psychedelic shirt, she wants to wear it to school in the summer and now claims that she needs to accessorise for it!  Yep you guessed it, she will be 7! 7! 7! 7! 7! next  Sunday.

The Easter Bunny did visit, but the hunt was a clued egg hunt and that lasted 2 hours so the kids were shattered by the end.. I did confess to having a nap on the couch!  (after a cup of tea and some chocolate)!

My eldest being 9 in May, just sounds alien to me....so not dealt with that.... but my baby girl being 7, just makes me feel like my baby has become a young lady, not a little girl any more....

Got a Bit warm so de-masked

I still remember when I was at home, and my husband whizzed my eldest off to nursery, it was an all day nursery and I told him to hurry because I though our daughter was going to be with us by lunch :) and well... that was it my friend was texting me for a cup of tea at noon at 9.30am... and I texted her back, said maybe later, as I was having a baby, she was like what.... what do you mean? Well she knew but she couldn't believe I was texting at the same time!!! (well it was a good distraction from the contractions!!) and at 9.50am my little girl was born in her sac!  That evening we went out for a starbucks!  Sad I know, but I really wanted a huge Caffinated something! and a pastry!

Saturday is Carnival day, Sunday is my daughters birthday and next week is 'Test Day' well it a series of days rol!  They've been practising hard but it all depends if it's good on the day!

Oatie putting on some 3d glasses to make us laugh!

Spring is finally HERE! with some Snow of course!!!

Well what a week! I can't believe it's gone by so fast! Well Oatie had his last skating lesson of the season... we are quite lucky that 1 rink offers Summer public ice, so we can still take Oatie out!

Well this weekend was nicely paced but full of action! On Friday we travelled to one of the biggest fun competitions of the year. My older two LOVE it, they see all their skating friends, from near and far, ones who they competed with last year and instantly they are laughing and chatting away like they saw each other each week... The boys are my favourite they link their DS.... put their skates on, compete against each other and straight after they are linking their DS....

The girls are not unfriendly but it doesn't have the same camaraderie that they boys have... the boys are a rare specie...

My elder son, who lots of the girls think he's CUTE, has a look a like, who competes against him, the other kids nick name is the same as mine's actual name and they look the same, 2 months apart in age... they both have a similar skating style and they even have the same hair... each year we think it's hilarious! a few times the judges have got them mixed up! Mine wears his glasses on the ice.... So anyway each year, in the stands lots of girls come to watch these cute 8-9 year old boys skate...

My daughter is still one of the youngest in her category... so in some ways she has a harder time, and there are more of them...

We were very proud of them, Oatie particularly so... as they both had personal best skates, my eldest walked away with a Silver for his Freeskate (to music) and a gold to his elements, where he was having a battle with physics and his glasses... he refuses to wear a glasses strap, but I'm trying to wait for contacts till he's 10 and not sticking MUD in his eye.... but he's spinning SO fast now that during the second event he was pushing his glasses back on mid spin!

My daughter managed to do some combos' that she was having trouble with, well she changed skates 2 weeks ago and she had a great skate.... and in her elements, she got a bronze which was brilliant, she's still 6 and there were 10 year olds she was skating against.

This time I attempted a Curly ponytail,... which half fell out when i took this photo as i didn't hairspray it... (I don't like solvents or sprays especially since the whole throat lump thing) and she was on the ice at 8:30 and only had to last 30 minutes max so I didn't care if it fell out after! She wore her princess dress and the curls looked all princessey and when she skated they bounced and she looked absolutely stunning!

Oatie wants to compete one day too, so that will be an interesting conversation to have with Skate Canada.... I have re looked into it... intellectually disabled people CAN skate and physically restricted people CAN'T skate! and the Special Olympics at present WON'T support physically restricted people which I think is discriminatory... just my view... but how can they say that when the CADS the disabled ski association of Canada will support both... and even the PARAolympics will support intellectually disabled people where as you would think PARA to be strictly physically but they say no... anyone who wants to do a sport they are happy. They just don't have ANY handicapped skaters at present...

Other than that, we were in and out of the competition within 24 hours, we found a restaurant that we loved last year so we made reservations and we enjoyed a lovely meal together on Friday. By noon on Saturday we were out of there. My Daughters cat is an April fool.... and turned 6 yesterday so naturally with him being a chocolate point monster... he had to have a birthday party, with a meal that he would like to have a part off, and the kids made chocolate brownies for pudding (no the cat wasn't allowed that part) there were balloons and presents and I THinK the cat had a good time... well he didn't run off... and did sit there:)

I think Oatie enjoyed the balloons more than fizzbit, this is a 1m+ balloon!

Snowing again! Well the kids do have a winter Carnival today!

Well today my older two have a winter Carnival at School... the school made a milk carton igloo... and the kids had to each take in a Ice cream tub sized block of ICE! The bus driver was "thrilled" having 30 blocks of ice on the bus this morning and I don't mean the kids ROL (Roar of laughter!) !

Oatie has got over his illness Hooray and he went skating on Tuesday, next Tuesday is the end of the season for Oatie, I think we might have to take him out on the odd spring/Summer skate to keep his "Ice legs" going and he's going to miss it as my elder two skate spring and part of Summer.

AND!!!! we've had a huge breakthrough in potty training! Since yesterday, he's been a real trooper! and had success 5 times.... yesterday and already 3 times this morning... so for our trip to Montreal, I'll be sure to pack that! I did give him an incentive... (those mini foiled chocolate eggs) I've never bribed any of my other ones, but he really hated sitting on the potty, I'm wondering if all the egg rolling of his sacrum has helped him feel more stable? (ABR), and today he's walking around the lounge more dancing to some "tunes" on the radio... gosh I feel old, it sounds like such drivel! I remember my parents saying that to me! So I think before Easter is done I might buy another bag of the eggs... :) If he could be dry, then it would open up even more doors for him, like he could join in even more regular activities.... as one of the prerequisits (without an aide) is that they can use the potty... His brother and Sister have been making such a huge fuss of his success too that Oatie feels really really proud of himself... i'm just glad that he's managed to put the trauma of that woman who shouted at him at preschool on the toilet, Oatie told me and my daughter happened to be in the next cubicle to her brother and the lady didn't know that was her baby brother.... at least he's managed to put that experience behind him (literally ROL (Roar of laughter!) as he refused to go anywhere near it for 3 months....

Other than that he's had a bit more "anger" towards his disability... more recently... I guess the more he see's the other kids his age running around.... the more he realises he's different and just wants to run around too! I don't think I would be as good tempered as he is with it... but when he's crying and screaming in public about it, and inconsolable, it's heart breaking :( At home he doesn't have those feelings so much as he's just at home. My older son and daughter both were in a fun inter club competition on Saturday and Oatie found it really really really hard.. he thought that he was skating... and all the excitement around him combined with getting over a cold... just made him miserable... Although next year if he skates in their learn to skate programme he too could go out and do his "thing" as it was an event where everyone gets a medal.... We shall see if that might be something that he might want to do next year... his older siblings have volunteered in the past to do that with him.

We have not heard from the assistance dog association at all... not even an acknowledgement... I know people sent their reference forms back as they told me as they did it. I hope it isnt one of those scam ones where they take your registration money and that's the last you hear of them... but $50 isn't really worth running a scam over, I would have thought....

Like any human, you get to one level and you want MORE.... he's now in the level 3's this skating class, but keeping up with them isn't enough for him now... now he wants to do Crossovers...

This weekend is a quiet one apart from skating practice... we're snuggled up at home...

Preparing for our ABR trip...

Well we've been busy preparing for our ABR trip doing Oatie's progress report and video which has taken some time to prepare. I can't believe the trip is just over a month away and in that time we will have 3 skating competitions, 1 skating carnival and a birthday!

Other than that the older two have had school ice skating and Oatie has been having his ice skating lessons too.

Oatie is meant to be in the parent and tot lesson but last week he BROKE into the level 3 class... well it wasn't quite all his fault, the teacher who taught level 3 said "you'll be skating with me tomorrow" when we bumped into her the day before... and Oatie persuaded his dad that he was REALLY in that class it was the first time his dad had taken him for his lesson... so there they were... the only thing he couldn't do was cross overs.... (yet!) I say yet as that Oatie really does take you back...

Well this week his second time gatecrashing the level 3 class, he learned to glide forwards and backwards... and there are 2 other guys who are slower skaters than he is... so he fits in really nicely! The coach said she was happy for Oatie to just join her group as the parent and tot this time round seem to be just lying on the ice.

Other than that I've taken him swimming a few times which he loves too... the other two have been busy practicing for competition... and now I think Oatie is coming down with a cold :( which means that I will get it as he loves "sharing"...

As you can see he's still cheeky as EVER!

X-ray of Oatie's Hips

Here is the photo of Oatie's hips... The Dr said that his hips are perfect and even though he can't endorse ABR, he says to keep going with it as Oatie is in pretty good shape.

They were really nice and Oatie has a review in a years time.

Oatie later on made pudding for everyone he made some rock cakes... and English Classic... although out School Rock Cakes were as hard as rock, they should be like a fruit bun consistency and the trick is add one tablespoon of milk! and then they are soft and moist... he mixed everything, his rock cakes were so good that I kind of polished off more than my fair share! Oatie is keen to make some more soon but wants to try blueberries instead of sultanas... (Swiper the fox lives on Blueberry hill)

I'm sorry there isn't a photo of the finished product... like I said we and particularly I demolished them... they were the best rock cakes I've eaten in AGES!